“Not a great deal of similarity” between Sha’Carri Richardson and Valieva cases

BEIJING — The International Olympic Committee, in the midst of turmoil over the positive drug test of Russian skater Kamila Valieva, is dismissing anything beyond superficial similarity to a case from last summer involving U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.

In recent days, Richardson, a sprinter who had been banned for the Tokyo Games, has taken to Twitter complaining of unfair treatment. Richardson, who won the 100-meter dash in last summer’s Olympic trials, was forced to miss the Summer Olympics after she tested positive for marijuana and served a mandatory 30-day suspension.

“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines?” Richardson wrote on Twitter. “My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady.” In accepting her punishment last summer, Richardson conceded that she had smoked marijuana to deal with the trauma of losing her mother.

At the 50,000-foot level, the cases bear some broad-stroke similarities: two elite athletes trigger positive tests; one is allowed to continue competing, the other is not.

However, that’s where the cases diverge. Richardson’s punishment was handed out not by the IOC, but by United States Anti-Doping Agency officials. Richardson admitted to smoking marijuana and accepted her punishment.

Valieva’s case, on the other hand, is still very much ongoing. Although her “A” sample, taken on Christmas Day 2021, tested positive for a banned medication, her “B” sample has not even been opened, according to IOC officials. Due process, as the IOC noted at its Wednesday morning press conference, has not yet been served for Valieva.

Russian doping authorities, not the more harsh United States ones, were responsible for Valieva’s punishment, or lack thereof. Delays in processing and notification from Russia’s anti-doping agency kept the positive test from airing until Valieva had already competed in her first event in the Games, more than a month after the sample was taken. The USADA acted rapidly in rendering a judgment to which Richardson agreed; had Russia’s equivalent acted with similar speed and forthrightness, Valieva might not have gotten on a plane to the Olympics, either.

The IOC has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a judgment. The CAS allowed Valieva to continue to skate, but both CAS and IOC have left open the possibility that Valieva will be retroactively banned and any medals awarded will be stripped.

CAS also noted that Valieva’s youth was a significant factor in their decision not to block her from participating, while Richardson was, and is, 21 years old at the time of her failed test. Both cannabis and trimetazidine, the drug for which Valieva tested positive, are on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.

“In terms of Ms. Richardson’s case, she tested positive on the 19th of June, quite a way ahead of the (Tokyo) Games,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “The results came in early in order for USADA to deal with the case on time, before the Games. Ms. Richardson accepted a one-month period of ineligibility that began on June 28. So I would suggest that there isn’t a great deal of similarity between the two cases.”

The question of whether Richardson should have been punished in the first place for smoking marijuana is an entirely different one from Valieva’s situation, particularly when marijuana is legal in many states across the country. WADA said in September that it is in the process of reviewing cannabis’ inclusion on its list of banned substances.